THE Ministry of Defence is aiming to "accelerate the dismantling programme" after revealing it cost almost £9 million to look after the Royal Navy's old nuclear submarines last year.
There are seven laid up at Rosyth and another 15 at Devonport in Plymouth with progress finally being made - after moving at a "glacial pace" - on removing the radioactive waste and cutting up the boats.
Many have been in long term storage for decades, Dreadnought has been at the Fife yard since 1980, and Dunfermline and Dollar MP Graeme Downie asked the Secretary of State for the annual cost of maintaining the decommissioned subs.
Maria Eagle, Minister for Defence Procurement, responded: "The annual cost varies each year depending on the respective maintenance requirements.
"In financial year 2023-24, £1.7m was spent at Rosyth and £7m at Devonport."
In total, 27 of the Royal Navy vessels will be recycled under the Submarine Dismantling Project, which got underway in Rosyth in 2015.
The retired hunter-killer, HMS Swiftsure, will be the first to be completely dismantled and made safe - this should be done by 2026.
The Public Accounts Committee previously said that the MoD's progress in disposing of the old subs was a "serious disappointment”.
It added that the project had moved at a “glacial pace” and “the 15-year delay has led to extortionate storage and maintenance costs”.
READ MORE: Babcock apply to vary radioactive waste permit at Rosyth
In a recent exchange in the House of Lords, Baroness Bryan said: "Bearing in mind that one Dreadnought submarine in Rosyth has been out of service since 1980, it will take decades to dismantle the boats remaining in both Scotland and Devonport.”
Lord Coaker, the Minister of State for the MoD, said there was "progress and ongoing discussions" on the project and in finding a radioactive waste disposal facility.
He said they were "trying to speed up" the dismantling programme and went on: "Seven submarines at Rosyth are decommissioned.
"All have been defueled. Swiftsure is now in dry dock. That will be fully dismantled by the end of 2026.
"There are 15 such submarines at Devonport. Four of those have been defueled.
"However, my noble friend is quite right; we need to speed up the process and we are certainly looking at every way in which we can do that."
Expanding on the work taking place, he explained: "Once a decommissioned submarine such as Swiftsure is defueled, there is an initial phase that takes the nuclear material out.
"Then there is an intermediate phase, which is followed by dry-docking - which is where Swiftsure is - for the rest of the submarine to be recycled.
"We expect 90 per cent of that to be recycled.
"The whole point of Swiftsure is that it acts as a demonstrator project so that we can learn from how that was done - what worked and what perhaps could have been improved - and then apply that to all the other submarines that have been decommissioned."
On new submarines, he said six Astute class subs were "already in the water" with a seventh being built in Barrow.
And Lord Croaker said the "successor to the Vanguard class" should see the first boat in service "in the early 2030s".
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